About the Natural Capital™ Plant Database

In 2001 Paula Westmoreland started designing and developing the Natural Capital plant database with the intent of creating a "living knowledge tool" to assist people in creating polycultures, guild designs, and testing the results. The initial focus was on plants adaptable to colder climates. To that end, the database contains the following information:

As a "living knowledge tool", the database usefulness is driven by the quality and quantity of input from our plant researchers, designers, and contributing subscribers. Some parts of the data are more complete than others and you may find missing data. We are constantly updating the database, but please let us know when you find an issue and we will take steps to correct it. The integrity of the information is most important to us. By the way, you will not find photographs of plants on this site. Images can easily be found on the internet with a google or other image search engine.

Special Thanks

Although there have been many contributors to this field we'd like to acknowledge a few in particular for re-invigorating the growing field of plant ecological design.

Toby Hemenway in Gaia’s Garden: A Guide to Home-scale Permaculture provides a good introductory framework for the garden ecosystem.